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Amen... Send Money
"Amen...Send Money" is the second episode of Miami Vice's fourth season. The episode premiered on October 2, 1987. Summary A feud between two teleevangelists boils over when Tubbs is under suspicion for raping a parishioner. Plot Reverend Billy Bob Proverb (Brian Dennehy) is preaching the gospel through his IGG (In God's Glory) Ministries, wanting money for his ministry, and for himself to buy the "better things". Meanwhile, Tubbs (undercover as a drug dealer) is approached by a woman in a Mercedes wanting drugs (but Switek is having trouble picking up what Tubbs is doing), and is busted, then the woman tries to rabbit and runs into a TV shop, and they find the woman is on TV as Proverb's wife Leona (Anita Morris). Leona is claiming the devil made her buy the drugs, and the DA refuses to drop the charges since she has walked on three previous busts. Rev. Proverb proceeds to blast the Vice department on his show for persecuting Leona and beg for money for a defense fund, then reams into Leona for her drug habit and tells her this is the last time he will cover for it. Tubbs gets an anonymous call from someone in Proverb's church to reveal some info about the church, and wants to meet him, and he goes to see her (unwisely alone) at Proverb's church, identifies herself as Faye Nell (Jo Anderson) who talks nonsense, then cries rape and her top is torn while Tubbs is trying to restrain her, and the watchman (conveniently showing up) pulls his gun on Tubbs. At OCB, IAD Officer Stroh has Tubbs in a room, but allows Crockett to see him. Crockett says they have nothing on him but Tubbs is concerned about a white churchgoing girl pointing a rape finger at a black off-duty cop, and IAD doesn't buy the fact that Proverb set Tubbs up because he busted his wife. Castillo has the squad run a make on Proverb, Faye has a lie-detector test run and she passed, saying God put her up to it through her headphones on her walkman. Crockett goes to see Mason Mather (James Tolkian), Proverb's rival, who says they compete but only in the "Earthly sense", and that he has a group of wayward girls called "Angels" and he has fallen for his own celebrity. Crockett gets a call from Gina that Tubbs found Proverb's address and went over to see him, though he's not permitted to. Proverb maintains he had nothing to do with the rape charge, and is prepared for battle, and after Crockett & Tubbs leave, Billy Bob & Leona Proverb hold court with the press and Leona claims that Tubbs tried to assault her when he arrested her, and Crockett has to drag Tubbs out. Switek, Gina & Trudy follow Proverb around and find the man is true to the Word, helps out in shelters and in drought-stricken Third World countries, which is inconsistent with someone trying to set up Tubbs on a rape charge. While Crockett has trouble with vending machines, he & Tubbs review who might have the most to gain if Proverb goes down for setting up Tubbs, and they go see Fast Eddie (Ben Stiller), a seller of religious merchandise, to lean on him, who says that Mason Mather has the most to gain if Proverb goes down because Proverb jumped on satellite broadcasting and he can't get on unless Proverb is off. Crockett & Tubbs go to see Mather but the Deacon said Mather is not available but to check out channel 60 for an important message, which was that the sky would part and fire & lightning were going to strike in over 2 hours and destroy Proverb's ministry, then faints on live TV. Proverb won't back down and goes on live for his show as normal, but, just as Mather predicted, lightning strikes and destroys Proverb's studio, then Crockett & Tubbs go to see Mather at the hospital and find he's been in a coma since his previous night's broadcast. Crockett & Tubbs go see Proverb while he looks through the remnants of his studio, and swears revenge on Mather for his studio's demise, thinks he sabotaged it, and learns the DA is still going to prosecute Leona. Tubbs finds a lunchbox at the transmitter site and finds one of his engineers, Carl Becker could have been responsible. They confront Becker at an outside restaurant and flees, they catch him and he admits Mather set Tubbs up, and he wired the station, as he was being paid by both preachers. They go back to Mathers and find he has come out of his coma and climbed up on a transmission tower saying God has called him home, then was electrocuted when someone inside the building keys a mic. Proverb has another broadcast from his destroyed studio to say he will have to sell everything to rebuild and pay for Leona's drug rehab, and solicits donations. Crockett & Tubbs watch in amazement as the donations increase in a very short time to over $100K. "Ripped From The Headlines' This episode draws from the controversy (in 1987-88) regarding tele-evangelists such as Jimmy Swaggart, Oral Roberts and Jim Bakker. Notes *When the show was first syndicated, the toll-free number (1-800-555-LOVE) for IGG Ministries was blocked out. Recent airings (including on Sleuth Channel) and the DVD releases display the number in full. This number now belongs to a baby clothes company in Canada. *This is one of the earliest appearances of Ben Stiller on TV, he had his own comedy show in 1990 before moving into movies. Music *"Satellite" by The Hooters (Switek & Gina trail Proverb) *"Black Book" by Rank and File (Playing in bar) Quotes *"The IGG (In God's Glory) message is: "Feel Good, Send Money!" -- Reverend Billy Bob Proverb *"She (Faye) says I wanted to know her in the Biblical way!" -- Tubbs to Crockett *"Nobody wants to be saved by some obscure, threadbare, raggedy-butt preacher anymore, so I am forced to martyr myself on the cross of luxury!" -- Proverb to Crockett & Tubbs *"These two may be world-class hustlers, but as criminals, bozo-time!" -- Switek about Proverb and Mather *"Night School, there is life after Vice!" -- Tubbs after explaining to Crockett how the transmitter works *"One good thing about TV, you can always turn it off" -- Crockett after watching Proverb's show Category:Miami Vice Season 4 Episodes